1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an apparatus for providing an ant habitat to permit the viewing of the insects as they form a colony and tunnel through particulate material and more particularly to an ant habitat housing structure that permits ready access to the habitat while retaining the ants.
2. Description of Related Art
The prior art discloses numerous examples of housing structures used to enable the viewing of insects and ants as they tunnel and build a habitat for their nest. Such structures have been a favorite toy for children for over fifty years, and numerous variations of such structures have been proposed in the art, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,236, which discloses an ant habitat construction of a convex configuration that requires assembly of various component parts of injection molded plastic parts. Frequently, such products include accessory materials, such as water droppers, tunnel starting tools, tweezers, magnifying glasses, etc., as can be seen in the Ant Factory product which is sold by Educational Insights, Inc. of Carson, Calif. Other examples of commercial products are the Critter Carnival and Critter Condo, also sold by Educational Insights, Inc. The Critter Carnival includes a built-in magnifying lens to enable the viewing of the insect inhabitants.
A common design goal for these habitat structures are to maintain the captivity of the insects, such as ants, while maximizing the viewing capability of their activities. Additionally, since this is a competitive market, issues of economics are always important in the construction of such structures.